Photograph by Jennifer Smoose.

Thirty-minute meals and semihomemade suppers have taken over the Food Network and are big in the cookbook section at bookstores. But do you really want to smother a swordfish steak in frozen lemonade à la Sandra Lee? And how often does that half-hour recipe stretch to an hour or more once you factor in shopping, chopping, and cleanup?

In the hope of finding some really good quick and delicious recipes, we’ve created a new feature, the Ten-Minute Gourmet.

For the first installment, we turned to Inn at Little Washington chef Patrick O’Connell, who provided us with his back-pocket recipe—the one he pulls out at the end of a long day in the kitchen. Because his go-to dish is a mix of parsley, Parmesan, pine nuts, pepper, and pasta, he calls it Five-P Pasta. But his cooks have come to crave it so much that they’ve given it a new name: Spaghetti Lovin’. Whatever you call it, it’s simple, satisfying, and (really) superfast.

Cook 1 pound spaghetti until al dente. Drain and place in a medium-size mixing bowl. Toss the pasta with 2 tablespoons unsalted butter and 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil. Add 1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, ½ cup lightly toasted pine nuts, ¼ cup roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley, and salt and pepper to taste. Toss to combine, and serve—it’ll be enough for four to six people.

What are your quick, tasty gourmet recipes? Let us know in the comments.

-This recipe appeared in the May, 2008 issue of The Washingtonian.  

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